The Tenth JOA picnic was held at the German Central Farm on July 8. The shadows lengthened as the evening wore on, the weather was perfect, there was music, food, face painting, tons of well stuffed raffle baskets, Nerf wars in the woods, hole-in-one, Dunkin-dolly, and a good cause to fight for.
Crowds gathered in the hall to inspect the 180 raffle baskets, oohs and aahhs were plentiful. Selections included food and spirits, sports equipment, family entertainment baskets, fine cozy coverlets, and spa delights to make you feel so pampered. The offerings seemed to wind for a mile up and down the tables. Each basket enticingly packed saying, “Take a chance on me! No, Me!” So many enticements, a pleasure just to look.
There was a Wine Pull which works like this: All the bottles of wine are in the same plain brown wrapper. All bottles of wine are value from $10-$30, for a $10 ticket the player gets to pull his/her bottle of wine from the abundant masked selections. Seventy five bottles of wine were donated. Many players walked away very satisfied.
The Hole-in-One always makes golfers’ palms itch for a club. Bragging rights and accolades went to the winner(s).
Kids had lots of games to choose from and be painted too. Jungle Terry is always able to grab attention with his best friends, the animals. Big and little kids roamed the woods in the Nerf battle of the year.
If you went hungry at the picnic, it was your own fault. Famous Dave’s slathered on the BBQ sauce, Fire House Pizza comes with a real fire engine, and the aroma of Mama Mia’s sausage made you sigh ‘bellisimo,’ and Sprague Road Dairy Queen cooled those taste buds with dessert.
Entertainment was added by Victory Highway.
This year’s terrific JOA sponsors for the picnic were; Marles Printing, Cleveland Research Company, Captrust Financial, Mansour Gavin LPA., Pat Catan, Cintas, Impact Team Sports, and Pte Drives Co Inc.
JOA is John Owen’s Adventure, Inc. named for John Owen Dunn who was diagnosed with Duchenne at a very young age. The Dunn family: Tony, Jen, Rutger 10th grade, Owen 8th grade, and Wade 5th grade, would not stand by and let Duchenne’s do its worst. No, they were all on an adventure to help middle brother, John Owen, fight and hopefully conquer the adversary. This non-profit (501c) is dedicated to improving research to discover a treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy that attacks young boys due to a tiny flaw in their X chromosome. The flaw prevents the body from making dystrophin, a chemical necessary for muscular health. Without dystrophin all muscles, including the heart, slowly deteriorate unable to function. It is fatal. Since 2008, JOA friends, and army of volunteers, and local community sponsors have joined in raising close to $500,000 for research and education. Their slogan is: Don’t let Duchenne’s derail another boy’s life. Stop Duchenne dead in its tracks. They are on a Victory Highway- just like the band. Learn more about JOA at joainc.org.

By LINDA KWARCIANY
Contributing Writer